The Los Angeles Chargers have officially hired former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as their next offensive coordinator, the team announced Monday.
It took nearly a week, but the deal is finalized, and McDaniel will be introduced by the team in the coming days. On Tuesday last week, McDaniel met with top Chargers officials, including head coach Jim Harbaugh, president of football operations John Spanos and general manager Joe Hortiz, about their open offensive coordinator position. While nothing official came out of those meetings, the signs were exceedingly positive. The meetings happened in Los Angeles and included breakfast and dinner on Tuesday, as The Athletic reported that night. McDaniel then returned to Miami.
Now he is coming back to Los Angeles to start building the Chargers’ offense.
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) January 26, 2026
This is an exciting time for the organization and, in particular, for quarterback Justin Herbert.
After the Chargers were held to 3 points in a playoff loss to the New England Patriots, coach Jim Harbaugh made the difficult but necessary decision to move on from offensive coordinator Greg Roman, his friend of over two decades. By replacing Roman with McDaniel, the Chargers will shift to a more modern and creative offensive system.
McDaniel built successful offenses with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in Miami. Herbert is a superior quarterback with a more versatile skill set. Pairing McDaniel’s forward-thinking approach with Herbert’s arm talent offers seemingly endless possibilities.
What exactly will McDaniel bring from Miami? How will his scheme mesh with Harbaugh’s philosophy? In what ways will McDaniel be able to elevate Herbert?
A dive into the film from McDaniel’s Dolphins tenure revealed some potential answers.
Layups for the quarterback
Roman did not do enough as a schemer and play caller to provide easy completions for Herbert. The Chargers wanted to harness Herbert’s arm and be a vertical passing team, a strategy rooted in the team having one of the best tackle duos in the league in Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt.
When both of those players were lost for the season, the Chargers failed to adjust their passing scheme. Instead, they relied too heavily on Herbert’s off-script creation. When Herbert did not provide that out-of-structure productivity, the offense stalled, most notably against the Patriots.
One of McDaniel’s best attributes as a play caller is how he creates easy completions through his schematic infrastructure. These layups take stress off the quarterback, a bedrock the offense can stand on to manufacture yardage. Part of putting Herbert in the best position to be successful is periodically taking some of the weight off his shoulders in the passing game. McDaniel’s system will bring concepts that achieve this.
Here is an example from the Dolphins’ Week 3 win over the Denver Broncos in 2023. The Dolphins faced a second-and-7 from just inside the Broncos’ 20-yard line. Miami sent receiver River Cracraft in jet motion pre-snap from right to left.
As Tagovailoa took the snap, receiver Tyreek Hill, aligned to the outside left, cut back across the formation, behind the offensive line.
Tagovailoa faked a stretch handoff to running back De’Von Achane.
Tagovailoa pulled the ball, and Hill was still hidden behind the offensive line.
As Tagovailoa rolled to his right, the Broncos’ defense was flowing in the opposite direction. You can see two underneath zone defenders colliding between the hashmarks, leaving the right flat vacated.
With a full head of steam, Hill beat those defenders to the edge.
Easy pitch and catch.
And an 8-yard pickup for a first down up the right sideline.
It is not hard to imagine the Chargers’ pieces fitting into a concept like this. Herbert is extremely athletic and excellent at throwing on the run. Receivers like Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston are capable of running this route. Hill is a unique player with his speed, but the separation on this play is created more through the structure of the concept. The Chargers did not incorporate enough play-action bootleg into their offense over the last two years. Herbert will thrive in these situations.
Linebacker manipulation
At the core of McDaniel’s scheme is making life as difficult as possible for linebackers in the middle of the field. Through formational changes, motions and misdirection, McDaniel regularly forces linebackers to move before and after the snap. He takes advantage of this movement both in the passing game and the running game.
In the passing game, McDaniel uses a wide array of play-action fakes to suck linebackers toward the line of scrimmage, creating windows in the middle of the field. Tagovailoa was at his best when throwing with anticipation to this area of the field, and McDaniel leaned into that strength.
In the running game, McDaniel utilized various motions, including jet motions, to manipulate linebackers and, as a result, create angles for his offensive linemen when they climbed to the second level. McDaniel’s Dolphins ranked second in explosive rushing rate from 2022 to 2025, according to TruMedia. They maintained their explosive rushing attack even as the overall offensive production dropped off over his final two seasons.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Dolphins ranked first in motion rate in 2022 and 2023. They ranked second in 2024 and 12th in 2025. Motion, pre-snap and at the snap, is a central tenet of McDaniel’s schemes. It creates an advantage by forcing defenders, particularly linebackers, to react before the play has started.
Here is an example from the Dolphins’ Week 15 loss to the Buffalo Bills in 2022.
The Dolphins faced a first-and-10 from their own 25-yard line. Tagovailoa sent Hill in motion from left to right pre-snap. The Buffalo linebackers shift with Hill.
As Hill hit the center of the formation, he stopped and motioned back to the left. The linebackers stopped their shift and moved back to the right.
Tagovailoa took the snap as Hill was still in motion back to the right. You can see the linebackers still have their weight on their right feet as the play begins.
Tagovailoa handed off to running back Raheem Mostert away from the linebackers’ flow. Right guard Robert Hunt, circled in orange, climbed to the second level. The pre-snap motion created his angle.
Left guard Robert Jones even tripped and fell, but it did not end up mattering because linebacker Matt Milano was already out of the play.
Huge hole, and a 6-yard gain.
McDaniel is a genius when it comes to creating numerical advantages in the run game through formations and motions.
McDaniel likes to run the ball. Harbaugh likes to run the ball. There is synergy in terms of that overall philosophy. McDaniel’s run game is rooted more in zone concepts, particularly outside zone. Roman leaned more toward gap concepts, particularly power, but McDaniel called gap schemes, and Roman called zone schemes. They both ran diverse run games in that way. Harbaugh, at the end of the day, just wants to run the ball effectively. McDaniel has proven capable of that, and the way he manipulates linebackers is a big reason why.
Red zone creativity
Over two seasons with Roman, the Chargers ranked 26th in red zone efficiency at 51.4 percent, according to TruMedia. The play calling and design lacked ingenuity in this area of the field.
Over four seasons under McDaniel, the Dolphins ranked seventh in red zone efficiency at 59.8 percent. They scored a lot of touchdowns, and McDaniel’s play calling was integral in that.
As Harbaugh said at his end-of-season news conference, an offensive coordinator who “scores points” is the “number one” priority. Under Roman, the Chargers went 0-for-3 in the red zone in their two playoff losses the last two seasons.
Good offensive coordinators can move the ball between the 20-yard lines. Great offensive coordinators score the ball efficiently from inside the 20. The field is condensed. There is less space to work with, and it is harder to win in one-on-one situations. Players rely heavily on their coordinators in this area of the field to create separation. McDaniel will give the Chargers a lift in this phase.
Here is an example from the Dolphins’ Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers in 2024.
The Dolphins faced a first-and-10 from the Packers’ 14-yard line.
Tagovailoa took the snap, and Achane initially started toward the flat.
As Tagovailoa hit the bottom of his drop, Achane cut back to the inside on an angle route. Meanwhile, center Aaron Brewer started climbing upfield.
Tagovailoa dumped off to Achane, with Brewer as a lead blocker on a modified screen concept.
As Achane caught the pass, the four zone defenders to the right side were occupied by the Dolphins’ three receivers. Meanwhile, Jones was also climbing to block for Achane.
Achane followed his blocks.
And scored.
Untapped potential
The final piece to this puzzle is a bit of an unknown.
McDaniel curated his scheme to fit Tagovailoa’s skills. When he was functioning at a high level, Tagovailoa was throwing with great anticipation and accuracy in the short and intermediate areas of the field. However, because of his weaker arm strength, there were areas in the deeper parts of the field that he could not access.
Herbert can access every area of the field with ease.
How does McDaniel’s scheme develop and grow with a more talented thrower under center?
The answer to that question will have to wait until the start of next season.
(Screenshots via NFL+)